


In Time

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Deathfic, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, and i oop, hdefjvgtd, was thinkin bout how every1 would feel. them standing there when minato dies didnt sit right with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: They were destined to not get there in time, as pathetic as it was.After a whole month, everybody remembers at the last minute - at the Graduation Ceremony. Mitsuru's speech must have dragged on too long, or they must've not been fast enough, because his final moments are overseen only by Aigis, and he dies not knowing his friends are only meters away.
Kudos: 64





	In Time

_ Get to the roof. Fulfill the promise. _

It repeated steadily, a mantra pulling him up each step. Minato’s body felt like a massive bag of flour, a brick he had to drag. He couldn’t stop moving - if he did, there was no guarantee he’d start again. Everyone else would be there in time.

_ Get to the roof. Fulfill the promise. _

* * *

Akihiko is running up the stairs, and with every panicked, heavy-footed thump of his shoes on the steps, everything makes more and more and more horrible sense.

Minato is  _ dying _ mere meters away from where he is right now, and there’s a looming sense of dread steadily rising in his throat, telling him that he won’t get there in time, that he won’t get to say goodbye.

As much as he longs for it to just be a nagging feeling, a pinching thought at the back of his mind, the idea of his friend dying alone on the roof is quickly becoming a very real concept. 

* * *

It  _ hurt _ . It had hurt for a month, but that day, that day it was the absolute worst. An aching, pained feeling in his head, in his heart - and he was so, so tired. Minato strained to stay awake, clinging to Aigis’s words and the blurry image of her face above him. The sun was blinding him, but the grey railing along the rooftop and the stray leaves that shuffled about on the floor and Aigis’s golden hair, flowing in the wind, lingered at the edges of his peripheral vision. 

All the words he wanted to say got caught in his throat, and Aigis was crying, hiccuping, desperately trying not to sob. Mustering what little strength he had left, he reached up and wiped the teardrops off her face. 

_ She mustn't cry _ , Minato thought, hazily,  _ she mustn’t cry, or I will too. _

Every time he blinked, his eyes seemed to close for longer, and he was trembling a little. The others weren’t there -  _ yet,  _ he told himself - but he didn’t know if they ever would be. It was scary, dying, although he had accepted it over this long, last month. Minato looked up into her eyes, swimming in tears, and wondered if this had happened all those months ago, at the beginning of the year, he’d be as afraid to die.

Aigis was still talking, still holding him, but her voice kept getting further and further away, and his grasp on reality was slipping, fast. Minato let himself cry, silently, as the sky began to swallow him whole.

As much as he wanted to hang on for another minute, another hour, another day, he couldn’t. His exhaustion, ringing with finality, was overpowering him. It was time to give himself up to the seal completely, and Minato closed his eyes without complaint, welcoming death like an old friend, his fingers, interlaced together on his chest, loosening.

* * *

Wrenching open the double doors, it was Junpei who yelled first, a contorted grin plastered on his face. There was no doubt he, too, knew what was happening, but everyone wanted to pretend it wasn’t. Stumbling over each other, they all ran to the bench, but, bringing Akihiko’s worst fantasies into fruition, they were too late.

Aigis, still holding Minato on her lap as if he were only sleeping, looked up and offered them a small, sad smile.

Fuuka slapped her hands over her mouth, realisation hitting her all at once. Yukari didn’t say much of anything, and Junpei, loud, cheery, reckless Junpei Iori, sunk to his knees, leaning against Aigis’s legs, silent and sorrowful. 

Mitsuru stood beside Yukari, giving her a shoulder to sob on when the dam finally broke, and Ken clung to her other side, his maturity wavering as he fought to not to cry out like Yukari.

Seeing Ken shake, Koromaru was quick at his heels, sensing the grief that hung over the group. 

Akihiko just stood there, looming over Minato and Aigis, and spoke first, his voice barely a whisper.

“We didn’t even get to say goodbye. What he must think of us now.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed this angst-filled hell! 
> 
> kudos and comments appreciated, i love u all


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